CDJ-200 weird eject problem

   

Hi,

I recently got into the world of bedroom DJing (a few months ago, actually). I bought a mixer and a pair of two used CDJ-200s.

All was well until yesterday, when I noticed a problem with one of my CDJ-200s. When I try to eject a CD, most of the time it will work, but sometimes the mechanism will get stuck and the CD too. This results in a loud 'tick-tick-tick...' noise as the gears get stuck. Eventually, one of two things will happen :

1) The mechanism will finally ejects the CD after a seemingly random number of 'ticks';
2) A E-9101 error will appear.

When the problem occurs and the CD is stuck, there is a simple workaround: while the mechanism tries to eject the CD, I take the eject pin, insert it into the small hole, and gently push on the eject mechanism. This re-engage the gears and the CD is ejected.

In addition, I managed to pinpoint the source of the problem to a small part of the eject process. The loading/ejecting process in a CDJ (200, 400, 800, or 1000) is in two parts. When you load a CD, it 'slides' in the CDJ (1), and then it lowers (about 5mm) into position (2). When you eject the CD, the mechanism raises it and then slides it out. The problem occurs during the 'raising' part, when the CDJ tries to take the CD out of the hole where it spins and into the loading/eject area (where it slides out).

Also, since I assembled/dissablembled a lot of computers in my life, I'm familiar with the handling of electronics, so I opened the CDJ (it's not on warranty anymore) to take a look inside while the CD was ejecting. By doing this, I thought that I could maybe find the gear that got stuck or the piece of plastic that cause the gears to get stuck.

However, I didn't find anything. If the CD get stuck, and can see the eject mechanism blocking, but I don't see the offending part. It must be a gear under the mechanism that is loose or something like that.

Here's my hypothesis: since the problem doesn't occur that much (maybe once in every 10 ejects (but it is more likely to occur if it occured the eject before)), I'm thinking that it's a gear/cogwheel that moved in a way that it sometimes block the mechanism (depending on the angle/position of the gears upon loading the CD, or something like that).

For now, I can't afford to get my unit serviced, so I'm looking for some CDJ experts that could point me in the right direction: is it a common problem with CDJs? Is there a way the easily find out what the problem is? Should I remove the white section of the eject mechanism to look underneath? Is this even possible?

I am looking forward to your responses!

Thank you very much,

Guillaume, AKA Fondateur0426.

have you placed the CDJ's on a platform or in an angle?? if the angle is too wide, gravity will pull the CD down and that might cause the ejection failure!

Poster: tom-j
have you placed the CDJ's on a platform or in an angle?? if the angle is too wide, gravity will pull the CD down and that might cause the ejection failure!

 

Well i dont think this must be a huge problem...

I Cant give you a solution for this one... it seems like a big problem that only service specialists can fix... and maybe they will advise you to buy a new one becouse the repair cost can be verry high

If anyone is interested, my problem looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c9evu9RdIk

It's not the same problem however: in the video's case, there's no CD in the player. In my case, there's a CD, and the clicking sound appears when the player tries the eject the CD. It also doesn't occur everytime for me.

E-9101

Mechanical Error Mechanics didn't complete fast enough

Dust or foreign particles might be inserted > remove this

this is the error your handling.

don't try to use the eject pin.
the eject pin forces the cd to eject and can brake things
only to use in case of emergency.
it's better to power off the cdj then hold eject en power on the device.
this will eject the cd in 99% of the times

i think lead can give you some advice on your problem.

Hey guys,

I have another problem that arose from this one, and I don't know if I should post a new topic or not, so I'll post it here and we'll advise later.

Remember when I opened it? Well, a few hours later I noticed a sound in my CDJ, like something was loose. I opened it up again, and it was a small wire that served to other purpose than to ground the unit that was loose. See, I had forgotten to screw it back into place, and was dangling, causing the noise. After putting back on the cover, I noticed another weird noise when the CD was spinning, like something was touching its surface.

I opened it again. When I put the CD in, I felt a small resistance, but the CD went through and played nicely. I ejected the CD (no problems here) and put the cover back on.

When I tried playing a CD, though, I would hear the motor spinning but not the CD. I opened it up again and noticed a small loose spring that was caught in the spinning mechanism, besides the lens/motor/electromagnet. The CD would "slide" over it, but couldn't lower completely into place because of it. The spring was obviously loose. I removed it; problem solved!

But the question is: where the hell did that spring come from? I checked: there are four springs in each corner of the CDJ, to hold the mechanism in place. They're all there. What probably happened is that by turning the CDJ over, a spring came off, got stuck near the mechanism, causing the small noise, etc. When I reinserted the CD and ejected it, it must then have fallen into the mechanism.

It's a strange spring: there's a hook on one side but not on the other side, meaning you could only hook it up on one side.

Anybody knows where that fifth spring come into action? It doesn't seem to be from the eject mechanism or some crucial part, but I don't know, and I've looked almost everywhere in my CDJ (except the whole eject mechanism, of course).

Thank you!

Can you post an image of this particular spring ??
I'll probably be able to track it, but don't know which spring you mean...

Hi Lead,

Here's a picture of the spring. I hope it is clear enough, I took it with my webcam.



Thank you very much!

that's a earth spring.

belongs between the mecha plate(plate on top of the slot-in mechanism with caution labels) and the slot in mechanism.

So it doesn't actually serve any purpose in terms of functionality to my CDJ-200, right? It's for additional protection?

In that case I'm not going to put it back (at least not right now; I don't want to open my CDJ-200 again).

It's indead an earth spring that supplies that makes ground to the metal cover plate on top of the drive unit.

My view of your situation : For some reason the spring got out of it's place, maybe due to shocks or transportation of the unit. This got stuck in your drive unit and blocking the CD from ejecting, resulting in the 9101-Mechanical Error-message.

After opening the player the spring got free and fell on your desk.

It's not essential that the spring is put back, but I would open the player again and put it in it's place again. Eventhough it's quick some work as you'll need to remove the outer cover that holds the PCB, the spring is located below the next metal shielding. Use this as a guide to where the part belongs...

Thank you Lead, this blueprint is really helpful! I think I will finally do it tomorrow (I'm not at home right now).

Do you know what part of the spring fits into the pin? Is it the spring itself or the little hook/circle attached next to it? Or maybe there are two pins? Because on the blueprint there seems to be space on the metal part only for the spring or its hook, but not both.

Thank you!

Hey, it worked, thanks!

I didn't find any specific way of putting the spring on the pin, so I put it where I thought it would fit on the pin.

I also found out that the whole mechanism was entirely removable (because I dropped the spring inside by mistake with my magnetized screwdriver, forcing me to put the whole thing upside down, nearly dropping the mechanism), which is kinda cool.

Anyway, thanks Lead!